Megaman Double Network Beginnings: The Hub Hikari File
by Ghost501
Summary: There nothing worse than being told that your child has a death sentence. It's worse when it's a baby who has had barely a chance to live. Faced with no other options left, Dr. Hikari has no choice but to return to his lab and resume the last 5% of his Navi Project. The pressure builds as reality sets in: he's his son's last hope. *Double Network Prequel
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, not much to say. Thanks for all your support so far in this series. Thanks to GAVZILLA for all the PMs, BETAs, and Co-Author help with this series. We hope to keep you all entertained. Special thanks to terratasha, BalanceM88, blee7442, and RTNKnight who have reviewed both main DN titles. [If you're a guest and I've missed you, it's because you've changed your name or...maybe I forgot. It's the fault of the brain and not the heart.] Once again, your reviews, PMs, favorites, follows, and views make me smile. So thanks once again (you'll be hearing that a lot from me).

Um...just saying, if you ever have a comment to tell me-and you are a FF member-and you don't feel like putting it in the reviews, just PM me. Odds are if it's something about how I'm handling my stories I'm more than happy to hear. I want to know if you guys are super confused or feel like it's not doing for you. That's the only way I can make my future stories. So yes, you all have my permission to tell me if you think something is going south. I may argue depending on just what it is, but odds are I'll listen and take it into consideration. (With that, please be respectful about it. My PenName may be Ghost501 but I'm a person too. There's a difference between respectful and degrading).

Oh also, there's a new poll out on my profile. For people who discovered me before around the middle of Double Network 1, you may have seen a What If? scenario story called _I'm Sorry_. I took down the story cause I felt like it really wasn't my best work and I got tired of it being out there. Shortly after I did, I got a PM or 2 (sorry, don't remember; it was a while ago) telling me that the story really wasn't as bad as I thought/made it out to be. So, I'm putting it to a vote. Vote on my profile if you would like to see the return to _I'm Sorry_ in a remastered form. Anyway, no promises; but the interest may sway my decision to return back to that story.

Anyway, you guys clicked on this to figure out the truth, or rather my version of it. In BN1, we, as gamers and MM fans, were told that Lan Hikari had a twin brother named Hub. However, the games only touch on the fact that he had HBD and then we are just told of his life as a navi. Well, I've made up backstory's for Roll and Mayl. It's time to delve into the last backstory that has been hidden to the world-weird since his name is on everything!

Everyone, I present MMDNB: The Hub Hikari File.

* * *

Dr. Yuichiro Hikari typed furiously on his key board. His mind raced almost as fast as he typed. He needed to get this program done. If he was successful, he would be able to save him. There was still time left for Hub. Yuichiro was glad that he had not followed his colleagues and deleted the very program that would be able to save his son's life. The doctor wiped his eyes of sleep, something he had been deprived of for over 35 hours now. Memories of the last four weeks of developments came fluttering back into his mind. Even he was having trouble grabbing onto the reality which was his life.

Lan and Hub Hikari had been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hikari exactly one month ago. After about two weeks, Lan had been cleared by the doctors of Beach Street Hospital and had already begun living at their house in ACDC Town. However, something had happened less than three days after the twins had been born. Something terrible that changed the name of the game. Unlike his brother, Hub had been a pretty quiet baby. He never wailed and often just slept quietly. As the days rolled by, they realized why his son was not very lively.

Hub Hikari was fighting for his life. Yuichiro put a hand over his face as he tried not to think about the day Hub was diagnosed with HBD. HBD was a very sickly disease that had been responsible for taking the life of his mother in law. The Hikaris had never imagined that Haruka had actually carried the gene for the illness. And with some extreme amounts of bad luck, Hub had gotten the disease as well. Very rarely did people with HBD live past their infant days. Those that did where condemned to constant hospitalization and, unfortunately, there future was sealed. There was no treatment for HBD and no actual cure.

Dr. Hikari didn't exactly remember what he felt when the doctors told him that they gave Hub six months, at max, to live. He never told Haruka just how long they had with their baby. He never had to. Her motherly instincts told her that something was wrong with Hub. With doctors constantly circling around her baby, he never had to reveal that they would lose their son. She already knew.

Yuichiro had been in a sick daze after hearing the news of his son. He had walked over to a small room where they kept Hub isolated. The disease was genetic in nature, but the process it would take to monitor him would probably upset the other babies. The baby was quiet for the longest time. What happened when Hub started to have trouble breathing, his father never knew. It was like his brain had shut down in order to spare him from seeing his son in pain.

He remembered going to see his mother in law in the hospital several years ago. She was a lovely woman with dark brown hair and warm brown eyes; in many ways, Haruka was a spitting image of her. Many times she had seemed fine. One day however, he and Haruka had just walked in after the doctor had saved her from another attack. Her face had been drained of color and she reminded him of someone who had just discovered how to breathe for the first time.

As Dr. Hikari closed his eyes, he couldn't help but think about if his son was going through another attack. Was he sleeping soundly? The thoughts of Hub caused the doctor to stop typing for a moment as the fact once again reared its ugly head. Yuichiro would lose his son, possible forever…unless his plan worked.

Did it carry risks? A lot of them, especially under all the pressure of the moment. Nothing like this had ever been done before and many had actually said that what he was actually attempted was a physically impossible feat. But that wasn't going to stop him. Most of the code had been completed, but the navi in front of him was missing a very crucial piece...human DNA.

The Navi Project was designed by SciLab and split between two scientists, Dr. Cossack and Dr. Hikari. Dr. Cossack's independent navi project was still ongoing and Dr. Hikari had stopped his research about three and a half months ago to help his wife with the expected twins. He had been about 95% done when he had stopped his research; now he was in a mad dash to complete the last 5%.

He took another look at the code before him. After getting his son's blood test, Dr. Hikari had taken the sample amd successful digitized his son's DNA. Now all he had to do was graft it into the new navi design. He had been unsuccessful in eliminating all traces of the illness from his DNA; but as a navi, Dr. Hikari was certain that it would not affect him. Being a navi would free him from the pains that he was having at just his young infant age. He blocked out the images of his son as they tried to float back into his head. He didn't want to remember his son at his weakest. The images trying to push their way back into his mind only strengthened his resolve.

He wouldn't allow his son to die on him, not while he could save him. The doctor continued typing away as he continued turning his son's DNA trying to integrate Hub into the blue navi before him. The process was tedious and extremely difficult. So many human factors that had to be reinterpreted so that they could be represented by ones and zeroes. But he had to do it. He didn't have a choice. He wasn't going to waste any time, not while Hub's life was on the line.

* * *

Lan Hikari didn't know a lot at two months of age. However, he did know that something was wrong with mommy. She was always had this sad face, like something had upset her. For a while, he thought he had done something bad. He later discovered that no matter how good he acted, she was still sad. He didn't know why mommy was upset. All he knew was that he hated seeing mommy so sad, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't make her laugh. He could only stay awake for so long!

Lan looked out a small picture that his mommy had left in his room. It was a picture of four people. Him, mommy, daddy—who he never really saw a lot—and another little person who looked almost like him. The difference between them was that the other boy wasn't crying; he was just sitting in his mother's arms quietly sucking his thumb.

Lan remembered the day he had been separated from his brother. It scarred him seeing those people in white clothes taking his sibling away from him. He had just been sitting right next to him in that weird see through crib with the walls when they had just came and taken him. His brother had cried a bit before he started making weird noises. He remembered his brother's crying stopping before the people came and rushed him out of the room.

Lan didn't know what had happened to his brother after that day. He hadn't seen him ever again. Mommy and daddy would always come and see him and then they would both disappear for a while. Something told him that they had gone to see his brother. But why couldn't he see him too?

It was worse when he had been taken out of his weird crib and then sent to his new home. It was nice seeing mommy around, but he barely saw daddy at all. What was worse was that his brother had never come home with him and that saddened him. He wanted to play with his brother, but he wasn't here. The baby turned his head away from the picture and looked back up at the ceiling. Was mommy sad too that his brother wasn't with them? Was she sad that daddy wasn't around a lot to say hi?

Lan was always a little sad when daddy left. It meant not seeing him again for several days. It meant that mommy was always sadder. He didn't want to be sad anymore! He wanted to be happy! He wanted his daddy and his brother to be back home and his mommy to be happy again. Upset, the small child couldn't help but cry.

The boy's wails soon awoke his mother, who had been having a restless sleep anyway. Lan always picked the strangest of times at night to have a fit and so she had gotten used to running on short naps rather than a consistent sleep.

She gently picked the small child up and rocked him for a bit. However, even the movement wasn't enough to calm Lan down. The mother looked exasperatedly at the child as she began her normal check list. Check his diaper? Nope. Was he hungry? No, he just ate an hour ago. Soon, Haruka just spent time trying to sing a lullaby to the child, who merely ignored her.

"Oh, what's wrong Lan?" the mother asked, knowing she would get no response. It was times like these that she wished Yuichiro was around. However, he remained in his lab. He had claimed that he had found a way to keep Hub alive. She hadn't understood the jargon her husband spoke in, but all she cared about was that her son could stay alive. As long as he could do as he said, Haruka never fussed about the number of days her husband spent at SciLab. When the doctor asked to speak to him, she knew that Hub was in trouble. No one ever told the her anything because they would assume that she would be the most distraught. And why shouldn't she be!

Her son was dying because of her genes. Her mother had HBD and now her son had it. She didn't understand how Lan had gotten lucky, but she couldn't have been more relieved than when they cleared him from the hospital. Still, her heart was torn. She knew that her little boy was in that hospital fighting for his life and there wasn't a single thing that she could do about it. As she continued to try and calm Lan, she allowed her mind to stop thinking about her son. It wasn't that she didn't care for him. She just didn't want to remember him being so…defenseless. No one could do a damn thing while her son was dying.

The woman grabbed a small picture from of the table and starred at it. It was only a few days after the photo was taken when she realized this happy little family would soon no longer be so glad. A few tears fell from her eyes and dropped on the glass cover. It took her a minute to realize that her son was fidgeting in her arms. The baby had stopped bawling and looked at the photo.

He raised a small arm and put his hand on the picture. Haruka smiled softly as she realized what he had wanted, "Hopefully, Hub will be with us too. Your father will make sure of that." She said as she put the boy back in his crib. Lan, exhausted by his crying, soon drifted off to sleep as his mother rested the photo closer to his bed. She just prayed that Yuichiro would be able to keep his promise.

* * *

One missed calculation. That's all it took for Yuichiro to almost kill his son. His hands were still over the keyboard. His heart still raced at a level that clearly wasn't healthy. He had almost killed his son because of one missed sequence.

Dr. Hikari managed to somehow disengage himself from the computer and walk away in a complete mess. It was late at night; everyone had gone home, leaving the doctor to his work. He thought he had had everything right. Perhaps he should have taken more time off to mourn, but he couldn't.

It was four months after his children, Lan and Hub Hikari had been born. It was two weeks after Hub had lost his battle against HBD. It was only a day after his son had been buried. It was only three minutes after he had turned on the activation sequence for the net navi, Megaman. EXE—as the SciLab committee had named him. It was only thirty seconds after Dr. Hikari realized that his program had a bug and terminated it. The doctor walked down the hall and into the bathroom. The cold water from the faucet felt like a quick slap back to reality. One that he needed.

His son had screamed…Hub had been in pain. Very few people had known that he had used his son's DNA in order to create Megaman. If the higher ups knew about it, they would have him pulled from the project and call his rush to complete it, clouded judgement. Many of them over the past few months had voiced a warning about using human DNA in order to save the soul of a human being. The "navi" might feel different and out of place. Or worse, what if the human was evil? He or she would have almost unlimited access to the Net and all the utilities in it.

Yuichiro, for once, didn't care. He wasn't going to let this go. He was going to save his son. Those scientists weren't the ones who had worked tireless knowing that their child's life was on the line. For four agonizing months, his family had hoped that Hub would be stronger than the disease. That there would be no need for the Navi Project's completion. That the small boy would have been able to hold on long enough for a cure to be found. But Hub hadn't. He was dead and now Megaman was his only shot at life.

As he walked back into his lab, he took a moment to look at Megaman's code. The navi's pained faced was gone as he had been put into a deep sleep mode. The doctor shook the image out of his head as he continued his work. Some part of his code had integrated too well into the navi. However, with the integration process already started there was no going back—if he did, he would lose everything. As Dr. Hikari worked, he couldn't help but wonder just how he had missed such a small detail. It had just been one misplaced byte, but then again that was all it took.

After about an hour of work, Dr. Hikari had managed to repair most of the damage. However, there would always be a small damaged part of Hub now. It wouldn't be enough to cause any problems, but Yuichiro still felt extremely guilty about causing his son harm. As the program ran, Dr. Hikari sat back in his chair and watched. He had altered his son's DNA by 0.001%, just in case there could be some kind of unknown Twin Effect. There was no need to endanger Lan. However, he couldn't bring himself to delete it. Sure it was only 0.001% and it effects might be harmful, but it was still part of his son. And that, he just didn't have the heart to get rid of. He saved the Hub. BAT file on a disk and stowed it in his desk for safe keeping.

The computer made a quiet beep as a page was printed out from it. It was the error report from the integration. Dr. Hikari went through the computer's error report and swore. The damage had been minimal to Megaman's frame but it was there. Even with Hub. BAT, his son's physical had changed. Considering what could have happened, the permanent change in eye color was a blessing. Still, it hurt Yuichiro that he would never be able to look into his son's brown eyes ever again. Dr. Hikari sighed and leaned back in his chair; the stress of the past four months finally taking its toll.

After several hours later, Dr. Hikari woke up to a small voice. As he awakened, he smiled as noticed a blue navi with green eyes staring at him. The navi looked somewhat confused, but that didn't matter to Yuichiro. His son was alive!

"Dad?" the blue navi asked. It seemed as if the notion that he could talk almost scared him.

"Hello, Hub," his father greeted warmly.

"I…What…" he started, completely unsure of what to say.

"Easy, Hub. It's okay. I'll explain everything in a bit; I just need to check something," the man said before he rose from his chair and grabbed a device from his desk. A blue PET shined in his hand. It was the first of its kind and completely customized specifically to hold Megaman. EXE. As he looked back at his son, he noticed the boy looking at himself as if wondering if this was real, "Now before I begin, I just need you to do one thing for me, okay?"

"Okay," the blue navi nodded.

"If anyone other than me asks you, you're name isn't Hub Hikari. It's Megaman. Megaman. EXE."

"But…you and mom named me Hub…" the navi said, completely confused.

"I know. And it won't make sense immediately. I know it must be hard getting used to all this, but I just need you to promise me that. Please, Hub."

The blue navi went silent for some time before looking back at his father, "Megaman. Hub is…," he looked to the side. All this information was rushing at him. He was no longer human. He was a computer program. But then why did he remember the four months in the hospital? Why did he remember what his family named him? Why did he remember being human, "Hub is…" he tried again but couldn't come out with the words. He was Hub. He could feel it. It was too much. These human feelings, but yet he was a navi. He wasn't supposed to have these feelings…was he?

"You are Hub," his father said, sighing, "I'm sorry. I should have no better than to throw that at you so soon. Besides, as long as you stay in this computer, no one will know that the project is done. We'll work on it…together."

"Really?"

"Yes, and I don't mean to keep pestering you with new material, but I think you'll like this. Would you like to know who your NetOp is?" Hub gulped. He knew thanks to his programming that all navis were given to NetOps. But…he didn't want to belong to anyone. He didn't want to be separated from his family! Wasn't it bad enough that he was stuck in this computer! Noticing his son's anxiety, Dr. Hikari decided to speak, "It's okay, Hub. Don't be scared. Besides you're NetOp won't be ready to handle you until he's in the first grade."

"I…I thought navis were just given, not selected…" Hub sniffled.

"Generally, there are exceptions," the doctor smiled, "Hub, your NetOp is your brother, Lan."

"Lan…is my NetOp?"

"When he's old enough, yes. Lan will be your NetOp. You've been taken from us one too many times already. Is that okay with you?"

"I think I'd like that dad. Do I still have to go by Megaman at home?"

"Around mom and I, no. Lan may still be too young to completely understand."

"Okay," he said sadly. He didn't think he wanted to be called Megaman all the time. But if he had to make these changes in order to be with his family, he would. Just like his dad said, he had been taken one too many times. And this time, Hub wasn't leaving.

* * *

Update: Friday

For manga/anime fans, little game knowledge stuff. When Megaman is given the last of his DNA, his eyes still stay green (though they were mysteriously blue for a few games which I think was an error on Capcom's behalf). It was a little confusing considering Lan and Hub are twins, yet even maxing out on DNA could not change his eye color back to brown.

Anypanel a couple things, flashing back to Day 5 DN2, Hub said that he would have mini-HBD attacks whenever he thought to hard about his time as Hub Hikari. This is one of those reasons why, an unseen effect caused by the accidental integration error of Dr. Hikari. Oh, snowball effects. Anyway, one more chapter in this DNB story and then it's onto DN3!


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, so I'm employing a new answering system for the rest of my stories/series (when there over the three-shot limit). For now on, I'm putting answers to guest and member questions from the review section. It just occurred to me that people could all be having similar questions and I'm answering some via PMs and not publicly so my bad. Also, if you just leave a comment I will be issuing out thank yous. Bass may or may not give cookies.

terratasha: Yeah, customization navis weren't really much of a thing around the time when Megaman and Bass were created. Consider them the breakthrough models and then after we start seeing customized navis become their own field. The "simulation" was part of the error report. It's like when you get a list of possible solutions; in this case, there was no answers to fixing Hub's eye color.

True-inTha-Blue: Guess we were just on the same mental pathway! Thanks!

Also, thanks to MysteriousClue for joining the community! ( u/2495740/)

* * *

A six year old Lan Hikari walked home extremely upset. Today had been terrible! His mom was acting weird and his friends, Dex and Mayl, always seemed to stop talking when he walked over. When school ended, they ran off without him! Plus, his dad had been at SciLab all week—which wasn't too abnormal—but today was special! It was annoying way to start off the first grade. Figures that everything would go bad on his birthday.

No one had even told him Happy Birthday today. Not even Roll had said anything, which was weird because she was the nicest navi he had met! The little boy sighed as he opened the door to his house. ACDC was a relatively calm neighborhood with the only disturbances being the children playing outside so most parents felt at ease with letting their kids walk to school. As he walked into the Hikari home, he noticed that all the lights had been turned off.

"Mom?" the boy asked as he flicked on the light switch.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAN!" everyone yelled, almost scaring the little boy. As he looked around the room, he cracked the biggest smile he could and ran towards his parents. Everyone was there; his parents, Mayl, Roll, and Dex! They had thrown him a surprise party!

"ThankyouThankyouThankyou!" Lan yelled excitedly as his parents knelt down to hug him.

"You're welcome, Lan," his mother gave the boy a quick kiss on the check while his father chuckled at the boy's embarrassment.

"Moooom, Dex and Mayl are here…" the boy whined as he tried to rub of the invisible kiss.

"Sorry, 'bout not talking to you today, Lan," Dex started.

"Your parents told us to not tell you, but we couldn't stop talking about it at school. We were afraid we were going to spoil the surprise," Mayl said excitedly as she ran over to the table and grabbed a small box. After returning, she handed him the wrapped gift, "Happy Birthday!"

The boy said a quick thank you and tore into the package; his smile widened as he realized what it was. It was an Escape battle chip! Lan's mind almost warped. It was his very first battle chip. He had wanted one of these things ever since he got his PET, his fifth birthday present!

"I know you don't have a Net Navi yet, but I thought when you did you might be able to use it," Mayl said with her hands behind her back.

"I love it! Thanks a lot, Mayl!" he said as he hugged the red haired girl. The rest of the party just kind of blurred along for Lan. A Billy virus piñata was set up—Dex ended up being the one to break it. Mayl won the Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Spikey contest; though Lan insisted that pinning Dex should have counted for some kind of points.

As the party began to move to a crawl, Lan's mom pulled out a cake with six candles on it. The boy closed his eyes, wished for his own net navi, and blew out the candles. Many kids never got there first Net Navi until they were six—an exception being Mayl who got Roll almost six months ago. He didn't really care what his first navi looked like—though he was pulling for a strong navi he could Netbattle with—he just wanted a Net Navi. As he opened his eyes, he realized that a small box had been placed next to him. He looked at the box and turned his head to see his father was sitting next to him waiting for him to open it, "Happy Birthday, Lan."

Excitedly, the boy ripped off the wrapping and opened the box.

* * *

The light somewhat hurt Megaman's eyes. No one could blame him, he had been in a dark box for the past two hours waiting for Lan to open the present; though he was happy Lan hadn't rattled the box first. When Dad said he was waiting for the right moment, he could have given him a little more forewarning about the delay.

"You got me my PET?" Lan asked confused. The boy had gotten so excited that he had completely missed the navi in the corner of the screen; then again, he wasn't used to having to look in that corner.

_'A little dense, isn't he?'_ Hub thought before he cleared his throat.

"WHOA!" Lan yelled as he heard the noise. It didn't take him long to realize that there was a navi in the corner, "You got me my own Net Navi!" the brunette yelled as he began to connect the dots.

"Happy Birthday, Lan! I'm Megaman," the blue navi said.

"Hi, Megaman!" Lan said excitedly, turning back to his dad to give him a hug.

So this was his brother. Hub had only seen him a couple times in person. After he had passed his testing, SciLab had cleared him for operation. The Navi Project had eventually been closed and the files and processes containing his design models had been stored away somewhere deep in SciLab's mainframe. The only reason why SciLab had kept them was because he existed. His father had insisted in keeping the files just in case something happened. However, some of the higher ups hadn't been too happy to learn of his dad's actions, especially when it was a year after the fact. He had suffered a month suspension for it, but he had never been happier.

Hub on the other hand, had been stuck at SciLab. Many of the scientists had questions for him and he answered most of them with ease. The only question he never responded to was his name. He had promised his dad that no one other than him and mom would know that he was really Hub unless dad gave the okay. Despite originally being confused by the idea, he had started to realize why his father had acted in the way he did.

If he told the world he was Hub Hikari…no it would be too confusing. His brother may just keep him his PET for the rest of his life. He would be questioned over and over again by SciLab, probably even more than he was the first time. Hub shook his head slightly. He didn't want to be a test subject anymore. No, he may be Hub Hikari, but he was also Megaman. EXE. He was a Net Navi now and he had accepted that. To be honest, he didn't really care what he was; just as long as he could be with his family, he would be fine.

"Megaman?" Lan asked.

"Huh?" he shook his head; he hadn't actually realized that he had blanked out for a couple of seconds.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Megaman said as looked past Lan for a moment, "Hey, how come everyone's leaving?"

"Oh, well we have school tomorrow. Buuutt, we can jack into the Net once everyone leaves. Then you can meet Mayl's navi! And we can bust viruses! Oh, but don't tell mom or dad."

"Lan, I don't think we should go against Da-I mean your parents. You do have school in the morning…"

"Ah, come on Megaman. Please…five minutes. Jack in, jack out. I promise!" the boy said, sporting the best puppy dogs eyes he could.

_'Wow…this is how little kids get whatever they want…'_ Megaman thought as he turned away from his brother. But he could still feel him staring at him. The blue navi sighed, "Five minutes."

"Yes! Thanks Megaman!"

* * *

It was seven o clock when Megaman was jacked into his homepage for the first time. He had to admit, the computer space here was a lot better than at SciLab. Much more cozy and home like. However, he didn't have time to admire his new scenery.

"Come on, Megaman! Mayl said she going to go to sleep soon!" the blue navi sighed as he took the link in ACDC Area 1. The net area was a little quiet with a few navis here and there running around and the Mr. Programs floating around enjoying themselves. Despite getting lost a couple times, Megaman soon found his way to Mayl's PC. However when he got there, he found a green cube in front of the entrance to her link.

"Lan, did Mayl send you her security cube password?" the blue navi asked.

"Um…oh yeah here it is! I forgot to download it when I read her email." In seconds the cube in front of Megaman was unlocked and he walked into Mayl's PC.

When he came in, he was surprised by all the music notes around him. He didn't take the red haired girl to be a lover of music. He had seen the girl a couple of time when she had come with Lan to SciLab when he was five just seven months ago. It didn't surprise him now that she had come with him that day. Apparently it seemed that once they had started walking, the two children had somehow become friends. He would have to ask Dad or Lan just how their friendship started.

"So, you're the new navi," a female voice said. Megaman, startled, flew backwards and landed on the ground. When he looked up again, he saw a pink navi staring at him with surprised green eysn. The navi's eyes soon lost their shock and she giggled a bit as she extended a hand, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya."

"I wasn't scared. You just surprised me." Megaman said as he took the hand.

The pink navi merely continued laughing and helped him up, "I'm Roll, Mayl's navi."

"Megaman, I'm Lan's new navi."

"So what do you think of my navi, Mayl? Pretty cool, huh?" Lan said as two screens appeared next to the navis.

"He kinda looks like you a bit…" Mayl noted.

_'Shoot! Please don't notice! Please don't notice!'_ Megaman thought.

"Maybe a bit, but maybe dad just designed him like that." Lan said. Megaman blew a quiet sigh of relief. Lucky for him, his brother was dense enough to dismiss their similarities.

"Maybe. Well, I'm going to bed now," the small girl said.

"Wait, we just got here!" Lan argued.

"We've got school in the morning, Lan. We can't stay up all night. Plus aren't you tired?"

"No, I'm not," Lan yawned.

"Well, that settles it." Megaman turned back to Roll, "It was nice meeting you, Roll."

"Nice meeting you too, Mega!" she smiled.

"Mega?"

"Oh, sorry. I guess I just made a nickname for you. I just thought that…" the navi trailed off, thinking she had just insulted him somehow.

"Mega's fine," Megaman said, "I like it."

The navi's green eyes shined for a split second, "You do?"

"Yeah, it's not crazy and it's a lot shorter than saying Mega-_man_, all the time." He could help but smile himself when her happy demeanor came back.

"Thanks, Mega," she said warmly. The pink navi waved good bye as Mayl jacked her out.

"I think you got a new friend, Megaman." Lan remarked.

"I think I got more than one, Lan," the navi quipped back.

"Really who's the other? Mayl?"

"No. You. You're my NetOp, Lan. We might as well become friends, especially if we're going to win any Netbattles one day."

"You bet! One day, we're going to win a tournament!" the boy agreed excitedly.

"But in order to win tournaments, you need sleep. Time to jack out, Lan."

"Okay, okay."

As Megaman jacked out, he realized one thing. Despite having to hide who he really was, he enjoyed being Megaman. Besides, the only way he would ever not be Hub is if he forgot about the life he was forced to leave. As he made it back to his PET and looked out at his brother jumping into his bed, he knew that he would never want to forget that life. Why? Simple, because he was still living the life of Hub Hikari.

* * *

And thus...let the games begin.

Currently this is the end of Hub's file. If I come up with an idea somewhere else along the line, I'll add to it (suggestions work too).

Okay, just addressing a one thing really, if anyone is wondering why Roll is kinda shy/unsure of herself in terms of Megaman's nickname remember that this takes place after the flashback in Ch3, DNB: YNA (acronyms are so much easier to write...). It's only been about six months since she was given to Mayl and so she's still coming out of her shell after her hostile SciLab experience. Not really much else to say except hope you all enjoyed this installment of the DN series.

Hope you guys stick around. For everyone who like darkness, well...DN3 is probably for you

**Megaman Double Network 3: Spiral Into Darkness** **comes out March 21!**

*record scratches* What...Stop staring at me Bass...I'm just going to..Yikes! Saber, Roll! When'd you two get there? No, stop following Bass's actions. Heh...why are you all staring at me...I didn't do anything!

Megaman: Why's DN3 taking you an extra month to finish?

Oh, heh...see what happened was that...well...alright fine, I messed up. My original write up for DN3 needed to be redone so it's delayed! Gav and I are still working on the final project.

Saber: But you kept on mentioning all the time in DN2 you jerk...And I was only mentioned...what was up with that?

*sigh* Things like this just happen okay. It's not like I intended for this to happen, sometimes things need to be redone in order to be better. Plus, you'll get your moment Saber. Anyway everyone, when I move the date up, I'll put out a story with the new date (also, my profile will have the most up-to-date info so check there). I may even be sorry about it too...(if what I said makes no sense, you have missed the joke). So until then, well...I'm going to go hide from four angry navis. Wish me luck! Don't forget to review!


End file.
